New York Times Bestseller

Charles C. Mann
Read by Peter Johnson

Based on the latest scientific findings, this breakthrough book argues that most of what we thought we knew about the Americas before Columbus was wrong. 

In the last 20 years, archaeologists and anthropologists equipped with new scientific techniques have made far-reaching discoveries about the Americas. For example, Indians did not cross the Bering Strait 12,000 years ago, as most of us learned in school. They were already here. Their numbers were vast, not few. And instead of living lightly on the land, they managed it beautifully and left behind an enormous ecological legacy.

In this riveting, accessible work of science, Charles Mann takes us on an enthralling journey of scientific exploration. We learn that the Indian development of modern corn was one of the most complex feats of genetic engineering ever performed. That the Great Plains are a third smaller today than they were in 1700 because the Indians who maintained them by burning died. And that the Amazon rain forest may be largely a human artifact.

Compelling and eye-opening, this book has the potential to vastly alter our understanding of our history and change the course of today’s environmental disputes. 


“Mann has written a landmark of a book that drops ingrained images of colonial America into the dustbin."
      —The Boston Globe

“In the tradition of Jared Diamond and John McPhee, a transforming new vision of pre-Columbian America.” 
      —Richard Rhodes 

“. . . lively and readable, filled with excitements and sorrows—a major contribution to our understanding of the achievements and the fate of the people we call Indians.”
      —Tom Powers 

“Mann has . . . written the most elegant synthesis of the way we were before the European invasion.”
      —Joseph J. Ellis, author of His Excellency: George Washington 

PRAISE FOR THE AUDIO EDITION:

"If you haven't read [it] because the book form seems too weighty, don't miss the audio edition.  .  .  . [It] is even more gripping as an audio listen, allowing listeners to absorb more of the many facts than printed word seems to readily offer."
      —Midwest Book Review

Audio book    Abridged; 11¼ hours on 9 CDs 
1-56511-978-9 (CD)


Charles C. Mann has co-written four previous books on scientific subjects including The Second Creation, selected by Publishers Weekly as one of the 15 best books of the year. A four-time National Magazine Award finalist, he is a contributing correspondent for Science and The Atlantic. He lives in Amherst, Massachusetts.